All together my family are quite heavy computer users...my daughter and wife each have their own laptops and I've got a gaming pc and general use pc....my daughter keeps breaking the power supply cable to her laptop and the replacements are damn expensive so i was wondering if there was a way to combine the three general purpose pc's into one. Is there a way that I can have one tower pc with perhaps three virtual pc's on it and have each of the virtual pc's output to an individual monitor and be controlled by individual mouse/Key boards which could all be used at the same time?
You can do that, isn´t easier talk to your daughter and teach her how to store or use properly her lap? If you insist in have on tower machine, you can mount a regular rig with a software that creates accounts for 2, 4 or 5 user´s that can be acessed from anywhere, with just a screen and a keyboard and mice. We have great guys here that can suplly you with better information, just look at the threads, maybe you you find all the information that you want.
lol...yeah you would think it would be easier to educate my daughter...but she is at that age where its's not cool to listen to parents...unknow 10 to 25 years!!! Was just thinking it may be possible to make a higher powered HTPC and combine it with the above use...so if anyone has any specifics on how I would go about that I would be interested. I've been using microsofts Virtual pc software for some years and I'm quite familiar with that but I'm not familiar with multiple screen setups....Also I have read about KVM cables/connectors but I'm not sure if that is the right equipment ...don't they connect multiple keyboards/mouse to one screen rather than what I want to do? If anyone has any info or can direct me to an online guide I would be grateful.
Having multiple independent mice or keyboards is not possible in Windows due to how it handles them. And it's also hard to do in Linux aswell. You could buy a copy of Windows Server 2003/2008 ($$$) to get a terminal server where to connect with multiple machines, but propably not exactly what you want to do.
the thing with shared access to one server is usb devices.. like your daughter probably has an ipod- she just won't be able to plug it in like she does with her laptop now.. laptops are perfect for kids, you have a good setup it sounds like but then again, like my sister has teenage daughters- and she does it like this, one computer in the main den and it's shared between all so she can see what they are doing!
You can do it, there's been a few hardware based solutions over the years. There's a nice looking one now from "Useful" http://www2.userful.com/ For others just do a google.
yeah but you'll find that usb port is only good for the keyboard xD they have something similar up at pacific university here.. I tried to plug in usb devices and it just doesn't work- even on the server itself
This is age is complex, I have friend with similar problems (the problem with the HD), about KVM the are use to connect two or more pc to jus one keyboard a mice and a screen, it´s the oposite of what you´re thinking to do. I believe linux is the best solution for you and you can use WINE to emulate you windows software.
Why don't you "upgrade" the laptop power supply to make it more robust? I am sure a bit of heatshrink at some strategic points would prevent, or at least significantly delay terminal failure.
